Hikers and campers in dry country typically carry drinking water for themselves in canteens but, when their dogs are with them, have difficulty providing water in containers their dogs can drink from.
Various portable and foldable containers have been described. A container with a sealed lid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,184. A foldable dog food container formed from a precut-perforated cardboard blank to form a dog food dispenser is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,326. A liner for a fowl feeding tray made by folding a liner material to form a dish shape is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,709,167. A box designed to support a food or beverage suspended by a strap around the neck of a wearer is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,278. U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,270 describes a foldable liquid container for preventing leakage. A collapsible container for bulk goods or liquid is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,622,277. A portable folding water tank is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,564.
L.L. Bean's 1996 Fall or Christmas catalog advertises a foldable pet bowl having a square bottom and constructed from fabric material. A plastic pet travel canteen with a lid has also been advertised in R.C. Steele's Fall 1996 Pet Supplies catalog.
None of the pet bowls and collapsible containers known to the art are designed to fold into an elegant, compact circular packet which can be carried in a pocket. Furthermore, none of these designs provide a bowl capable of opening spontaneously upon the release of fasteners keeping it in the folded position. It is an object of this invention to provide a simple, circular bowl design which is portable and foldable into an elegant, small, circular packet, which can be fastened into a folded position with a single fastener and which opens automatically into a ready-to-use bowl when the fastener is released.